Paul Finebaum names major college football program that’s ‘forgotten about’

Paul Finebaum of SEC Nation | Kirsten Fiscus/Advertiser via Imagn Content Services, LLC

On Sunday morning's edition of the Matt Barrie Show, the ESPN host was joined by SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum to discuss the weekend behind them in college football. Obviously, Oregon slayed Iowa, Indiana held on for a late miracle and Texas Tech throttled BYU to win most headlines. But it was the fact that one major program garnered almost no headlines with another big win that struck Finebaum and Barrie.

Ahead of Saturday's full slate of action, a couple College Football Playoff hopefuls scored big Friday night victories, including Tulane on the road over Memphis, shaking up the AAC race yet again, while USC advanced to 7-2 by handing Northwestern an NCAA-record 716th loss in program history. Yet, it was crickets on the Trojan front nationally, at least per Barrie's view.

"I mean, they’re in play in this thing, but they’re just not talked about," he said of USC. "They’re just forgotten out on the West Coast, and I think that’s because they led the charge to do one of the dumbest things we’ve seen in a long time, which was kill the Pac-12."

Without that local connection to their conference rivals, at least compared to the Pac-12 days, Barrie believes a bad fit in the Big Ten is pushing USC down the relevancy list: "They don’t belong in the Big Ten. The whole thing makes zero sense and they’re paying for it now because no one gives a damn about USC."

Paul Finebaum says USC, Lincoln Riley don't matter

USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley celebrates | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Strong words, but Paul Finebaum concurred with Barrie and added his own salt into the USC wound.

"I’m not going to give you the cliche that, you know, college football is so much better when USC..." he trailed off. "It doesn’t really matter to me if USC ever plays another football game. Matt, the bottom line is that they are forgotten about."

USC is sitting very pretty as arguably the definitive fourth-best Big Ten team with a real chance to steal a CFP slot, but they just don't have the eyeballs on them like Riley once did at Oklahoma.

"I’m sure Lincoln Riley is getting that memo, and you know, he’s done a pretty good job this year," Finebaum added. "Where is he going to go for attention in a town that just celebrated a World Series and, you know, is focused in on the Lakers right now? I mean, he just doesn’t really matter. And the thing is, when USC is at the top of the heat, they do matter in LA, but they don’t matter right now."

Paul Finebaum really cannot emphasize enough: USC does not matter right now, certainly not to him or Barrie, but he believes the Trojans are ghosts in the national picture despite possessing a very clear path into the postseason. Meanwhile, Barrie believes the shattering of the Pac-12 has really eroded what was once an awesome and unique "corridor" of football out west.

If USC can simply get into the playoffs, they'll have the attention of the college football world for at least four quarters come December.